Christmas Mayhem

Our Christmas break was full of family, food, games, parties, a getaway and unfortunately an ER visit. I'm sad to see the holidays go but at the same time I'm ready for a brand new year!

We love visiting Temple Square and seeing all the beautiful lights.

 

Zoe isn't crawling but she loves doing this bridge/push-up move. I'm not sure when she's going to discover if she puts her knees down she might actually get somewhere.

Christmas Eve at my parent's is always a blast.  We play Bingo and do the bells, which even included kazoo's this year!

Check out my curly-haired girl!

Christmas morning was full of excitement and it was so fun to see Gavin open his gifts.

I loved getting dressed up to go to church but can you tell Gavin is exhausted?

James and Marianne were in town so we spent as much time with them as we could.  Going ice skating was one of our favorite things.

We headed to St. George for a few days which was wonderful. Gavin loves it down there!

On our way out the door (literally) for St. George Zoe grabbed a piece of metal ribbon on our wreath and sliced her finger in two places. A few hours, and five stiches, later we were able to get on the road. She is now constantly flipping the bird.

This little incident made me so grateful for my kids and for their health.  We are extremely grateful Zoe still has all five fingers and it made me realize how fast accidents can happen. It even made me appreciate being up all night with my little one.

We are looking forward to a wonderful 2012 which will hopefully bring lots of happiness!



Holiday Fun

We've been busy! We had our annual gingerbread house decorating last week. This might be the first year I'm actually proud of what our house looks like; usually they are just one big mess!

Jesse had to walk down to my parent's and I loved my little baby all bundled!

Creating the masterpieces.

The finished product.

We also had the Russon Family Christmas party which was so much fun. Gavin said Zoe looked like a ballerina.

The kids had fun making Christmas trees and the adults had fun unwrapping candy kisses while wearing gloves.

And of course there were presents!

I absolutely love this time of year and I hope we can fit in all our traditions before the big day arrives! The only problem with this time of year is all the fun desserts I want to make. Don't these look amazing?!?

The MUSS

The MUSS celebrated its tenth season this year so we did a little something special at the final football game during halftime. I was lucky enough to be on the field with my boss, John, and others who have contributed to The MUSS over the years. We were recognized for our efforts and were presented with autographed footballs.

The MUSS has given me some amazing memories over the years, both when I was a student and in my position as MUSS Coordinator. I have loved watching it grow and I have so much pride when I see the national recognition we are starting to get. The video below was also shown at the final football game and celebrates our ten-year anniversary.

GO UTES!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu_JLnXS2eo

Family Fun

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/EwaVoNWGjeC5utHkvB03

Happy Holidays!

We had a great Thanksgiving and are definitely looking forward to Christmas!

I can't wait for all the traditions and the spirit surrounding Christmas.  I'm actually looking forward to the holiday falling on a Sunday this year.  Even though it will make the day a little more hectic I am excited to focus on the true meaning of the special day.

I hope we get to spend time with each one of you this holiday!

Utah/BYU Food Drive

Please donate to the Utah/BYU Food Drive: www.alumni.utah.edu/fooddrive

Halloween Festivities

Gavin loved Halloween this year and all the parties and fun that came with it. He did great in his preschool program. He LOVES to sing and he was definitely the loudest.

We had our annual pumpkin carving at my parents. There were no Utah pumpkins this year but we had to pay tribute to the Raiders.

And then of course, there was Halloween night. Our mermaid and pirate had so much fun trick-or-treating!

The results of trick-or-treating:

San Francisco

We headed to the Bay Area for of course, the Utah game. The game was definitely the low point of the weekend; luckily we had lots of other fun things to keep us busy. (We missed having our little man with us but he stayed home and had awesome sleepovers at his grandma's houses.)

Elise's face sums up the feelings of the football game.

Such a lovely view of the Bay Bridge. I just love how the 'Occupy' protesters are claiming they are fighting for more jobs and a better economy. The only thing these people were doing were getting high on their super nice crack pipes (they told us they had nice crack pipes).

This man was my favorite. If you've ever been to San Francisco you know there are a lot of crazy people walking around, but I think this man takes the cake. Here he is feeding the seagulls in his lovely red Speedo. He then proceeded to undress from his Speedo; and yes, he was completely naked on the beach. Luckily we did not take a photo of that part. :)

Luckily we were still able to enjoy our night even after the free peep show.

Autism Walk

We ended up raising about $860 for the Autism Walk this year which completely surpassed my expectations. Thank you so much to those of you who donated; it means so much to me and my family. I think this will become a Russon family tradition and hopefully we will just continue to increase our total.

The Big 3-0

Jesse's 30th birthday was last week and we had a great time celebrating. His good friend, Andrew, also turned 30 a couple weeks ago so we decided to have a combined party. We surprised the boys at Laird Park and were so glad all of their friends came to celebrate.

Gavin trying to sneak a taste.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful hubby!